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| Parents United aligned with the Dark Side |
Friday's post, Debate SHOCK: Parents United thugs harass 1-2-4, has gone viral.
Page views surged ten-fold on Friday, and this page was hit over 2,000 times on a Sunday, the 'dead' traffic day.
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| Today's Google stats for Grafix Avenger |
Shock, disgust, disbelief. A couple of folks told me: "Now I know what you've been saying is true."
GA has been saying it for 6 years. So has MSV.
To those who are new to Hoboken's dark underbelly of political bullying, threats, and intimidation against supporters of Reform, here's some historical context.
Local Hoboken elections are non-partisan. Instead, individual candidates or slates of candidates generally support one of Hoboken's two political factions: Reform or 'the Dark Side' (also known as the 'Old Guard')
Reform
The Zimmer administration, BoE coalition of Kids First/Parents for Progress/Reach Higher/Forward Together candidates 1-2-4 represent "Reform"- clean, transparent, progressive governance.
The Dark Side
(partial list)
- Ex-Mayor Peter Cammarano (jailed for taking $25,000 in bribes as part of the 2009 Bid Rig III sting, disbarred in 2014),
- Ex-Mayor Anthony Russo (jailed for taking thousands of dollars in bribes from city contractors between 1994 and 2001),
- Ex-Council President Christopher Campos (charged with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud in $7M car loan scheme, faces 30-year jail sentence)
- Ex-Councilman Michael Schaefer (jailed for funneling $25K bribe to ex-mayor Cammarano),
- Ex-Parking/Trans Director John Corea (jailed for stealing $600K from parking meters),
- Patrick Ricciardi (City HalI IT director arrested for stealing Mayor Zimmer's email),
- Mike Russo (caught on FBI surveillance video accepting $5K bribe),
- Matt Calicchio (charged with criminal harassment of a Reform board member in front of her 6 year-old daughter, charged with attempted assault of a senior citizen at Fox Hills, videotaped menacing a dry cleaning store owner ),
- [redacted] (Hoboken lore: allegedly inherited his fortune when his rich mentor 'fell' off a roof top- oops!),
- Ex-HHA Executive Director Carmelo Garcia (fired, accepted $3,100 in donations from vendors who billed the Housing Authority over $2.1 million since September of 2011),
- Ex-HBoE Trustee Frank Raia (2002-2008) was President in 2005-2006 when his Board:
- spent $48K on 157 unauthorized cell phone accounts
- put 1,050 employees on the BoE payroll: no names, addresses, job description
- wrote a $500K purchase order to itself- paid itself $56K no explanation
- spent hundreds on steak house dinners
- took pals to Atlantic City, gave them $300 stipends
- cooked enrollment numbers from 2003-2008
- Rewarded a pal with a $60K contract for marketing- excessive for work done
- outsourced janitors for $91K when 60 "janitors" were on the BoE payroll
- bought extra rooms for pals at the Plaza Hotel with classroom money
- spent petty cash like a slush fund
- $1,900,000 disappeared on contracts that "not available for review" or with "no evidence of approval" or "exceeded the bid threshold"
- Ex-HBoE Trustee Anthony 'Stick' Romano (served 2006-2008, 2006 Audit showed "payroll ledger not maintained"... 2007 audit showed "check signing protocol was not followed... lack of internal controls in check signing protocol may lead to unauthorized cash disbursements")
- BoE Trustee John Madigan (issued a summons for the alleged harassment of a Reform BoE member)
- BoE Trustee Peter Biancamano (alleged "vote buying" -won 2014 election with 466 VBMs)
- Ex-Assistant Superintendent Anthony Petrosino (published lies on district QSAC scores and lies on district enrollment, fired from $144K full-time BoE contract while maintaining a residence in Austin where he was teaching a class)
- QLC Boad Member Eduardo Gonzales (stood with thug as he blinded 1-2-4 with his flashlight, said nothing, did nothing)
- Parents United (they brought Dark Side thugs to BoE debate, smiled as thugs blinded 1-2-4 with a flashlight )
The harassment of Reform BoE members and their supporters by the Dark Side and it's thugs began full-force in 2009.
That's the year Reform took the majority on the School Board and Dawn Zimmer became Mayor.
That's the year that 'Dark Side' fingers were pried off Hoboken's levers of power.
Unruly behavior, threats and intimidation (like we saw at last week's BoE debate) followed Reform to BoE meetings, HHA meetings, the City Council, and into the street. An innocent conversation could beget a harassment complaint, like the one Matt Calicchio filed against the proprietor of MSV.
Here's an example of Dark Side aggression against Reform, caught on film.
The night of November 3, 2010 was a Council meeting. Outside, on the steps of Hoboken City Hall, a very large Mike Holmes menaced a not-large Reform supporter for some imagined transgression. Fortunately, the fight is stopped Perry "the Hair" Belefiore.
And at election time, Dark Side harassment escalated.
Like last week, with a flashlight in the eyes of 1-2-4.
The thugs and their corrupt 'Dark Side' allies are the backbone of Parents United.
And you know what they say:
Is that Lane Bjardi, that slimy SLAPP Suit plaintiff, taping the fight in the background? And he had the gall to claim that he was not a political operative. Add trying to economically destroy over a dozen reform minded citizens in a costly 5 years old SLAPP suit - but the karma is that the plaintiffs are now facing the prospect of losing their home and being evicted to pay the 275k judgement that the defendants won against them. This is how this crowd rolls. Deplorable.
ReplyDeleteExactly. It is alot for newcomers to Hoboken politics to absorb. The crooks are so close to having control of the BoE budget back.
DeleteHonest people of good faith, whether or not they are up on School Board issues, need to vote 1-2-4.
The Bajardis are "facing the prospect of losing their home?" Really? Wow. I'll bet ACME would donate a shopping cart shelter lined with Twinkie insulation.
DeleteHell no.
DeleteI don't recognize that guy but he looks like a ba-job-seeking ba-job-seeker if you ask me.
DeleteMatt could shine that thing up his bellybutton and call it the light at the end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeletethank you so much for this summary post, GA. i just bookmarked this page and intend to share whenever i meet a new hoboken resident.
ReplyDeleteand to think, it doesn't even include the masons! perhaps they aren't technically "dark side" as in the original OG (like most of those above), but they certainly have enabled many of the OG corrupocrats.
Ha! That crossed my mind, but IMO Mason was always an outsider trying to get in, not respected by that crowd (though they tapped her husbands wallet like a beer keg at a frat party) though just as ethically challenged.
DeleteIt's outrageous that *parents* are willing to support 3-6-5 and put these thugs in charge of the BOE once again.
ReplyDeleteThey are either completely uneducated about the issues and don't care to learn anything of substance because that would take actual brain effort or they are completely self interested...
DeleteThe BOE election is about choosing between corruption versus good governance. If the PU slate didn't do their research about their backers they are in trouble and if they DO know but are still on the bandwagon then they complicit.
ReplyDeleteRemember friends... you need to vote and tell everyone about this. The OG will have significant amounts of votes that they got through bribery. Last year it was enough to impact the election. That will not be any different this year. So do what you can to convince people to not let their vote be part of the criminal vote.
ReplyDeleteOn the video he wants to fight. Wheres his cane? He gets up those steps fast with the cane hangng on his arm. Then he does not know which hand to hold it in. I call BS on whatever injury he pretended to have.
ReplyDeleteLol- I believe he was collecting disability from an injury claim- heard he drove a Hoboken school bus.
DeleteCollecting disability? That guy ran up the stairs like Carl Lewis.
DeleteWhat a trip down memory lane GA! Thanks for compiling this. There's so much to document and, unfortunately, the list grows every year (sigh...)
ReplyDeleteYou mean a trip down the garbage chute!
DeleteHolmes trying to be a tough guy, ha! He'd have a heart attack if he ever managed to work up the energy to throw a punch, LOL!
ReplyDeleteThose of us who have been here for a while remember that humongous Matt Calichio and his camera first made news in Hoboken when he arrested for menacing then candidate Dawn Zimmer as she was walking her dog alone near her home.
ReplyDeleteSince then he was Beth Mason's paid rabid lap dog .
Anyone who has continues to have this disgusting thing on supporters list is bad news.
The word on the street is that Chipper is the one who is msotly being walked around and introduced. The feds will be onto the vote harvest scheme if they take all 3 seats so they can't pull that off. One of the PU women is clearly being used, the other PU-er just wants to promote her real estate business. Since they say that they have never gone to a BoE meeting not even once or never paid attention to the past education races, they don't remember Alana K. She was used last year. Shame on them for aligning themselves with these lowlives!! Grow a backbone seriously. They can make a different choice and do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteSo literally the choice for Board of Education is between people who are backed by criminals like PU or the three Mothers on the 1-2-4 slate who are endorsed by Dawn Zimmer. Hello????? Earth to Hoboken!! Make sure you vote on November 8th everyone.
ReplyDeleteSo I see that the PU slate has rearranged the order of the names on their ticket from the designated ballot positions on signs which are appearing on the west side of town. The new signs highlight the last names of the candidates to spell out the acronym BNR, aka, Born and Raised, the battle cry of the Old Guard. Isn't that special, kinda like Stick the Dick saying that it was time to "take back" Hoboken in the last election. If there ever was any doubt as to the true intentions of the smelly wreck of a campaign referred to as PU, then this latest stunt should put that issue to rest.
ReplyDelete